


Unraveling the dream

by nabundan



Series: Naruto enters the MCU [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Naruto, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Angst, Blood and Torture, But shit goes down and gets serious, Crack Treated Seriously, Everyone here kicks ass, Fluff, Kage Bunshin | Shadow Clones, Kidnapping, M/M, Mild Smut, Monsters, No Damsels in Distress Here, Secret Identity, elemental powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 12:27:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20008279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nabundan/pseuds/nabundan
Summary: Damnit! It wasn’t supposed to be like this. He was hoping that, when he was ready, that he could explain everything to Steve. To sit down and tell him everything about. About who he really is and why he was here. But he should’ve know that was too good to be true. His life in Konoha was like this, and this world is no different. And now, he’s got no choice. He can only hope that Steve forgives him. Eventually.Or: Naruto doesn't tell Steve who he really is, and it comes back to bite him in a bad way.





	Unraveling the dream

**Author's Note:**

> 13k of some fluff, but more seriousness, more plot, and more action. This is where the main plot of the story kicks off.
> 
> I strongly recommend reading "First Sight" before this as it's picks up from where it left off.
> 
> Real-life Naruto actor: Mid-twenties Chris Pine with faint whisker-scars.
> 
> I don't own MCU, Captain American, Avengers, or Naruto.

“Naruto, can I be honest with you?”

The said man looks up at Steve, his fork stops its swirling in his spaghetti noodles. They’re having dinner at a Brooklyn Italian restaurant that one of Steve’s friend recommended.

The food’s tasty. This is his first time eating spaghetti and it reminds him of ramen; a very tomatoey ramen. But it’s good, 'cause any kind of ramen is delicious.

“Sure, what’s up?” Naruto says to his…boyfriend?

It’s been a month since their first date, and they’re passed kissing. Naruto doesn’t know about the courtship works in this world, but he figures it isn’t as different as back home. So, technically, they’re boyfriends now, right?

“We’ve been dating for a couple of weeks now.” Steve starts. He pauses for a second, as if he was thinking about something else, but then continues. “You haven’t asked me about my life. Or why people come up to me whenever we’re outside.”

“I got to thinkin’, you’ve gotta hear about who I am or what I do.” Naruto can feel that he’s uncomfortable talking about this. But, seeing the stiff jaw and his bright blue eyes locking to his own, he’s being his stubborn self and making sure that he’s going through whatever he’s doing.

“I need you to know that what I do is dangerous. And if we’re going to continue with what we have, that you’re sure about this.”

Naruto blinks. Sure, he’s seen the news about superheroes in New York popping up whenever he searches on his phone. But he glances at the people wearing costumes, ignores it, and continues scrolling down to search for any strange activity hinting about portals. Besides, it’s not like he can help them, or if they need any help.

Plus, the organization gets pissed off if members get involved with conflicts that aren’t related to their mission.

“I sorta know what you do, but I’m still new to the whole internet thing and I haven’t been looking for it.” Naruto says truthfully.

“I mean, you never asked about my name. Or about the birthmarks on my face. I figured that’s just part of your life, and if you wanted to me to know, you’d tell me yourself.” He shrugs and grins mischievously. “Plus, you know I’m just as hard-headed as you. There’s no way a bunch of bad guys are going to scare me off.”

He’s fought against one of the gods that created his world and, at the same time, saved his world from complete slavery under the eye of a sharingan moon. So yeah, a bunch evil villains isn’t even going blip on his radar. But, Steve doesn’t need to know that.

He must have said something right cause Steve’s shoulders loosens and the shy smile that makes his heart beat loudly appears. “I’m glad.” He reaches out and grabs his hand, the bandaged one.

He told him that it was covered in burns from when his house in Japan burnt down. It was more lies, and he was hating himself at how much easier it getting to do it.

He imagines his fourteen year old self, beating and screaming at him to man the fuck up and tell him. But, he’s twenty-five now and knows that the world is so much more complicated than it seems. The man in front of him and his own feelings prove that.

The black choker on his neck feels tight on him. It was originally a ribbon when the organization first gave it to him, but once he touched it, it formed into a choker that he now wears around his neck. Alex said that it works as a universal translator, a sensor for portals nearby…and as signal if any member got into trouble. But right now, it reminds him of the secretes that he’s holding back from the man he cares for.

“I wanna let you know, I’ll do my best to make sure you don’t get involved with anything from my job.” Steve pauses, slightly tightening his grip on Naruto’s hand. “I don’t want anything, especially my job, to ruin this.”

The sly grin leaves his face as Naruto feels his heart skip a beat. _‘Huh?’_ He thinks faintly as Steve continues to stare at him in almost a devoting expression.

And he feels that he’s showing the same expression.

Naruto mentally shakes himself out of his thoughts. He’ll figure out about what just happened later.

“Alright.” Naruto says, trying to escape from the strange feelings that are beginning to bubble up for the man in front him. He grins, rubbing his thumb against his boyfriend’s hand. “So, did you know I had my first kiss with my arch nemesis?”

He begins to talk about the kiss he had with Sasuke. Really as a kid, it was super traumatic to have his first kiss stolen by his back-then rival. Now, it’s just embarrassing to remember how immature he was. But, seeing Steve openly laugh when he gets to the part where a classmate accidentally pushed Naruto to lock lips with Sasuke, having his pride take a beating was worth it.

They continue to talk a little bit about memories, but it quickly shifts to what new things they’ve learned in New York. Turns out, Steve was just as confused about the city as he was. It’s been fun going to new places and learning with him about this strange world. It makes him feel like he’s not as alone here.

Before they know it, the restaurant was about to close. Well technically from the front door’s sign, but according to the star-struck owner, Captain America and his date were allowed to stay however long they’d like. And, before he knows it, Steve had slipped money into the owner’s apron after he said that they’re dinner was free, and he had turned to go back into the kitchen. Probably to spy on them some more with his employees; he could feel eyes staring at them during the entire dinner.

Naruto turned to glare at his boyfriend, unimpressed. It was supposed to be his turn to pay. Steve gives him, what he’s learned from the internet, an “aw, shucks” smile.

“You can pay me on the next date.” He says, rubbing his thumb against the inside of his wrist. Naruto suppresses the urge to shiver from it.

“That’s what you said last time.” Actually, Naruto now notices it. The last time he paid was at the first date, as thanks for saving his face from breaking on the concrete.

Yeah, his bartending job at the local Brooklyn bar doesn’t pay a lot, but he’s got enough money from it to splurge on their dates too.

“C’mon, I have a bunch of money that I’m too scared to check the actual amount, and not much to spend it on. At least let me spend it on you.” He says with his eyebrows raising and a cheeky smile on his face.

They stare at each other, Naruto with suspicion on his face and Steve with his innocent one. After a few seconds of staring, Naruto leans back and huffs out a breath; his cheeks puffing out a bit. Steve’s smile turns into a smug grin at the sight. _‘Ass.’_ Naruto thinks fondly.

“Fine.” Naruto says, then raising his free hand to point at his boyfriend, staring at him intently. “But I’m definitely paying for the next one, alright? I can’t make you pay for everything.”

Steve’s grin stays the same. “Deal.” Yep, he’s going to do the same damn thing.

_‘I wonder if America knows that the guy running around with their name is a complete smart-ass.’_ Naruto thinks wryly. They both get up from their table and walk towards the exit, waving at the still star-struck owner. Seeing the Italian’s dazed look, Naruto turns to face towards his boyfriend with a shit-eating grin. Now, it’s Steve’s turn to look at him unimpressed. Despite his expression, it’s doesn’t stop the playfulness from showing up in his eyes.

Once they both exit the restaurant, a black car glides into a stop in front of them, the passenger door facing them. At the sight of it, Steve’s face becomes unreadable and his mouth purses into a disapproving flat line. _‘He looks like a teacher getting ready to scold his student.’_ Naruto thinks amusingly.

“Duty calls?” The younger man offers, his body turning sideways to face the other man.

Steve nods. “Looks like it.” He can barely hear an exhale through his mouth before he turns to face him and wraps his arms around his waist. Naruto instinctively wraps his own around the other’s waist, offhandedly rubbing his fingers against the back of his buttoned up dress shirt.

“I had a great time.” Steve smiles. Naruto tries to calm down his sudden pounding heart. “I’ll see you later?” Steve lets go of his waist to reach up and cups his face. His thumbs smooth over the indents on his cheeks, and his eyes traces over his face.

“You better.” Naruto grins impishly at him. “Besides, I still owe you a date.”

He can see Steve relax and his mouth turn in a half smile. And his expression…it’s the same one he saw in the restaurant. Before he could think more about it, Steve tilts his head down to shorten the inch between them, and kisses him.

Naruto thought that this giddy feeling would go away after months of dating, but it hasn’t. He tilts his head up to deepen the kiss. It still feels like he’s floating on clouds.

A honk interrupts them. They break from their kiss, but still keep their arms around each other. Steve turns to look at the car, and huffs out a breath that sounds like a sigh.

He turns his attention back to the shorter man. “I’ll text you.”

Naruto, still feeling light after the kiss, gives him a dopy grin. “Yeah.” Steve smiles back at him shyly and, even under the dim street light, he can see the red flush creeping up his neck. It’s adorable. Naruto tries to cool his own blush.

They finally let go of each other. Steve walks towards the car and opens the passenger door. He sees the flash of red hair and a female face before Steve glances back at him. Naruto shoves his hand into his jean’s pockets and smiles widely at him. There was a brief sight of a smaller smile from Steve before he enters the car and closes the door. Immediately, the car speeds off and Naruto stares at it until it’s gone.

Naruto’s smile slides off before he sighs and begins walking to his apartment.

Well, back to his actual job.

* * *

His first experience with a superhero battle shows up a week later.

He’s sitting in a Japanese restaurant in Chinatown. It’s one of the few restaurants in New York that makes ramen from scratch. So he goes here whenever his wallet is loose enough for some splurging. It’s also a way for him shake off the feeling of homesickness whenever it rears its ugly head.

Halfway through his second bowl, he feels a rumbling miles away. He pauses with his chopsticks mid-air. The rumbling get louder to the point where the people around him stop eating too.

The street outside explodes.

Immediately, Naruto ducks underneath his table as window glass break into the restaurant. There’s another explosion and it’s closer to the shop. The chairs flings back from the force. There’re sounds of shooting from outside and the clanging of metal. It continues for minutes.

Then, it’s silent.

Naruto clutches his kunai that he took out during the first explosion, and slowly rises up from the table. The restaurant’s large windows have been completely blown out; its glasses and outside debris coats the inside of the shop. The wooden chairs are in the far back, splintered and broken. He sees the other customers get up as well. He quickly deactivates the kunai back into a sphere, and shoves it in his pocket.

“Is everyone alright?” A man calls out. There’s a murmur of agreement from the rest of the customers.

Naruto makes his way outside of the restaurant, and stops at the sidewalk. Or what’s left of it. The roads are covered in large indents, cars are smashed from their roof, and streetlights are either on the ground or hanging by a cable.

_‘Is this what Steve means?’_ Naruto thought as he looks at the destruction. _‘To protect me from his job, from this?’_ He hears sniffling and turns his head to the sound. There’s a boy in the middle of streets about fifty feet from him. He’s frantically looking around the street, his face covered in tears.

Thirty feet from the boy, there’s a tall metallic being aiming a gun at him.

Naruto sprints towards the boy. He grabs the boy and shoves him to ground just as the being shoots him. He covers the boy and looks up. The gun is aiming at him.

Naruto grabs something large in front of them, and covers them just in time for the shot. He hears the shot hit the cover, but it feels like there’s barely any impact on it. Nevertheless, Naruto clutches the strap attached to the cover and braces for more incoming attacks.

It doesn’t happen.

Instead, he hears the sound of gunshots at another direction, and metal breaking under strain. Then, it’s quiet again. Footsteps start approaching to the front of their cover. Naruto lifts himself up from the boy and grabs the sphere from his pocket. With an exhale, he quickly rises up with the cover.

And he’s met not with the metallic being. Instead, there’s a man wearing a blue uniform with a white star on his chest, and his waist covered in white and red stripes. His face was covered by a blue helmet with a white A on his forehead. His blue eyes stare into his own, and his mouth is slightly open in surprise.

He looks…familiar.

“Naruto?”

_‘Wait.’_ “Steve?!” What the hell is he doing here? Naruto then flashes back to the conversations with Steve, and the brief glances of costumed heroes on the news.

Oh. Right. This is his job.

There’s a shuffle below him. Naruto remembers the boy, and quickly leans down to help him up. “Are you ok?” He asks the boy. The boy nods furiously, his body shaking in fear and tear track stained on his cheeks

He hears Steve walk closer towards him. “This area is too dangerous. You have to get out of here.”

Naruto turns his head to look at him. He’s covered in soot and dust from the battle. There’s blood on the corner of his lips and a bruise forming on his cheek underneath his helmet. He looks tired. And Naruto wants to help him, to fight off this invasion together, so bad.

But he can’t; this isn’t his battle.

Steve reaches his hand out as if he’s going to grab something from him. Naruto cocks his head, and furrows his eyebrows in confusion. There’s a tug on his sleeve and he looks down. It’s the boy, looking up at him with wide eyes.

“You have his shield.” The kid whispers, his body isn’t as shaky as before. “He needs it back to fight the bad guys.”

The shield? Naruto turns to looks at the cover. Underneath the dust, he sees the metallic cover shining through in red, silver, and blue.

Oh.

Naruto looks up to the amused face of Captain America, and sheepishly hands his shield to him.

“You use a shield?” He blurts out just as Steve secures the shield onto his forearm.

Steve replies back with a half-smile and a shrug. “It’s a symbol of protection. People thought it would be a good representation of the country.” His face turns stern. “Now, I’m serious. You need to get out of here.”

Naruto nods, grabs the boy’s arm, and turns to leave for safer area.

“Naruto.” The said man stops and turns to face the hero. Steve stares at him. “Be careful.”

The younger man nods. “You too.” And they both run off into opposite directions.

“Wow.” The boy breathes out. “I met Captain America.”

Naruto blinks. It still surprises him that people are always so star-struck over the Steve he knows. To imagine the symbol of America in comparison to the shy, but cheeky man he’s dating. He shakes his head; he can think about it later. First, he needs to get the boy to shelter.

He looks around the area, and spots a couple of people frantically waving at them behind the broken windows of a bookstore. He quickly brings the boy, and helps him go over the broken glass shards and into the store.

“I found him on the streets alone. I didn’t see his parents.” Naruto says.

A woman nods. “It’s happens a lot. But, I’m sure they’ll find him after this is over.” She says. “If not, we can look for them.”

Naruto nods. He grabs an area that’s not covered in shards, and is about to jump over the make shift ramp. He pauses, hesitating, and turns to face the street.

Okay, he knows that the smartest thing would be to go into the shop and wait for the battle to be done. It won’t blow his cover and it would be what the organization would want. But he can’t. That’s not him; to sit on the sidelines when he could be doing something. It’s not the principles that he swore to follow since he was twelve. And if he can’t help fight those things, at least he could help people. Naruto lets go of his grip on the ramp.

“Hey, what are you doing?! Come back!”

He sprints down the street, his eyes scanning around for more bystanders. About a mile of running, he sees a group of six of those metal things approaching a small convenient store. He sees a brief flash of dark hair; there’s people hiding in there.

Naruto reaches down and grabs a solid debris the size of his palm. Alright, Naruto decides, no actual weapons. But, he can at least do this.

“Hey, tin heads!”

Naruto throws the debris at the alien that’s in the center of the group. It hits dead center in the back of its head. The entire group stills simultaneously. Naruto clenches his hands into fists, and waits.

He doesn’t wait long. Immediately, the entire group turns around and face Naruto, their guns up.

Naruto turns around just in time for a laser to almost graze his cheek, and runs. _‘Okay, maybe I didn’t think this through.’_ Naruto thought as laser beams shoot behind him. He imagines Sakura yelling at him in his head _‘No shit, dumbass!’_ He winces as if she’s yelling right in his ear, and quickly shoves that image away to focus on what’s happening now.

In the corner of his eye, he notices an alleyway on his left. He has an idea. _‘Change of plans. I’ll round them up at the alley and fight them there. That way, I can use my weapons, and no one will know what happened.’_

With that last thought, Naruto sprints towards alley. As soon as he hears the group enter the alley, he grabs a sphere from his pocket and turns to face them.

All of their guns were aiming at him. _‘Alright! Let’s do this!’_ Naruto thought, adrenaline pumping through his veins. He gets ready to activate his kunai.

Two gunshots were heard. Suddenly, two of the beings had holes in the back of their forehead, collapsing in front of the blond. Naruto falters. The remaining turn around just in time to see a blur of red crouching down in front of them and swiftly kick their legs, causing them to fall down. There appears a women with red hair and wearing a tight black jumpsuit. She looks familiar.

As soon as they were down, she quickly lets go of one of her guns, grabs a baton from her hip, and stabs one of the beings further into the ground. The baton activates and electrifies the alien until smoke emerges out of it. The other aliens are starting to get up, but she is ready for them.

She’s fast. And good. Naruto stands there as she jumps on an alien just as they stood up, her legs wrapping around its head. She turns at the waist and shoots at one of the aliens. With another quick twist, her thighs move and snaps the being’s neck. She flips backward and lands on the ground crouching just as the alien falls down.

There was a few seconds of silence. The red-haired woman stands up, and turns to give him a glare as if he was doing something wrong or stupid. Or both.

“Didn’t Steve tell you to get out of here?” The woman says. _‘Uh, what?’_ Naruto flashes back to the last date with Steve; the person who picked him up after the date was her. She must be one of Steve’s team members.

“I was getting out of here.” Naruto mumbles his lie, shoving his sphere back into his pocket. “It’s not my fault these things were coming at me.”

He sees an enemy behind her, aiming its gun at her back. He quickly grabs a rock from the ground, and throws it. It sails past the woman’s shoulder and hits perfectly at center of the alien’s forehead. The alien tilts its body up from the impact, and shoots at the space above them.

The woman turns around, and fires two shots from her gun at the being; one at the chest and the other at the head. She turns to Naruto and stares at him for a moment. He feels a sudden sweat forming on the back of his neck. Shit, was that too accurate? Did he just screw his cover? The woman maintains her stare as she presses her hand against her ear and speaks.

“Ironman, I need to you to grab a package for me.”

_‘A package?’_ “Wha-“

There’s a voice above them. “On it.” Then the sound of propellers move to their direction.

“Whoa!” Suddenly, Naruto was being lifted off the ground and into the sky.

He squints against the winds cutting through his eyes, and looks down. He’s several feet above the ground; the streets of New York looking like specks of dust. Red and gold metal arms are holding against his chest, flying him. To somewhere.

“You better hold on.” A male voices speaks. Naruto looks up, and sees a metal helmet with the same color scheme. The face looks back down at him briefly, white light glowing from where eyes should be, and turns its attention back forward. “Wouldn’t want Captain America’s sweetheart to fall.”

Naruto open his mouth to reply, but barely manages a squeak before Ironman speeds up. Naruto clutches tighter against the arms, and shuts his eyes against the harsh winds.

Of all the things he expected when staying in this world, being flown in the sky by a superhero wasn’t it.

After a few minutes of flying, he feels them start to descend. Naruto opens his eyes, and sees a tall tower with a large blue A near the top of it. Soon, they land on top of the tower to what looks like a landing deck. Naruto lets go of Ironman and takes a small step forward, his legs shaky from the surprise flight. He turns to the hero.

“Now, be a good boy and stay here until we’re done.” Ironman says.

Naruto feels a flare of irritation. _‘Boy?! Who the hell does he think he is?’_ Naruto was about to talk, but Ironman had already shot off the dock and back towards the streets. Naruto grits his teeth. _‘What an asshole.’_ He curses silently at the other man.

He turns to look around the area. There’s nothing here except a metal double door with no door knobs. It looks like an entrance to inside the tower. But, Naruto has a feeling it’ll be locked until the superheroes are done.

He sighs. Looks like he’s going to have to wait until they get back.

Naruto walks towards the edge of the roof and sits down, his feet dangling in the air as he stares at the horizon. This building is tall; definitely taller than the Hokage mountain. At the thought of Konoha, a wave of melancholy washes over him. _‘I wonder if I could see the sunset from here?’_ He briefly reminiscences about his favorite spot in the village.

A roar snaps him out of his thoughts. He looks around for the source and finds it in the center of the streets. The sound is coming from a green beast that is jumping from building to building, smashing what sounds like the aliens that were fighting them. He can see the beast grab two of the aliens with one on each hand, and lifts them into the air. With another roar, the beast brings down his hands and smashes them together, the machines crumble into scrapes.

Naruto shivers. _‘I hope he’s on our side.’_ He thought. An explosion appears to the far right of the green beast, and Naruto’s attention is now on that. On top of the buildings, there’s man in purple picking off the aliens with his bow and arrows. Naruto hums in thought. _‘An archer? I thought the people here used guns.’_ While archery was common in his world, he hasn’t see it in this world so far; just firearms. He briefly thinks of Davina and smiles. _‘It would be fun to see them compete on who’s the best archer.’_

And so he continues to sit on the roof, staring at the scenes in the streets. He observes the green beast destroying everything in his path, the archer shooting arrows with different explosions, and Ironmen flying in the sky, blasting the aliens.

He doesn’t see Steve nor the red haired woman.

He doesn’t know how long he sat there, but suddenly the tower starts to shake. Naruto scrambles to get up and takes a few steps back before something large launches into the air above him and lands in front of him.

It’s the green beast.

He was much larger than Naruto expected. Even when slouching, he’s at least foot taller than him, and his biceps are twice the size of his head. The beast stares at him, his nostrils flaring. Naruto tenses and takes a step back, his hands clenches into fists.

“Who. You?” The beast grits out.

“Naruto Uzumaki.” The blond answers, his back straightens in hope to look like he wasn’t intimidated.

The beasts grunts. “Hulk.” And the beast, Hulk, walks past him towards the doors. Naruto blinks in surprise as he passes him, and quietly exhales, his shoulders slumping in relief.

The sound of propellers flying towards him makes him turns to its direction. He sees Ironman flies him and Steve towards the other end of the roof, Steve hanging onto the other man with his arm around his shoulder. They land a few feet in front of him, and Steve quickly unwraps his arm around Ironman to walk towards Naruto. The man reaches up and tugs off his mask along the way.

He stops a few feet in front of him, waiting. Naruto stares at him. He has even more dirt and debris on him since the last he saw him. His normally combed hair is in dishevels, and his entire body screams exhaustion. Fortunately, it doesn’t look like he’s very injured. Still…

“You look like shit.” Naruto blurts out. He hears Ironman snickering from behind.

Steve snorts, eyes turning from exhaustion into amusement, and lips forming a tired smile. “Thanks. You make a fella feel real special.”

Naruto grins and reaches his hand toward Steve. He cups his cheek and gently brushes against the dirt that’s laying on the top of his cheekbone. Steve lets him brush for a second before reaching up and covering the hand with his. He turns his head and kisses the palm of Naruto’s hand, his eyes closed and his face the expression of content. Naruto’s heart skips a beat at the sight.

“Alright, lovely reunion’s over. Let’s go eat, I’m feeling Chinese today.” Ironman says, his helmet gone and revealing his face.

“Hey Whiskers, you wanna join us?” Ironman continues as he walks past them. Naruto blinks and bristles at the man. _‘Whiskers?!’_ Steve, feeling his indignation, places another kiss on his hand.

“Tony, be nice.” Steve says, his eyes now focusing on the walking man.

Tony turns around and walks backwards to face them. “I’m being nice. I just invited your lover boy here to join us. That’s nice isn’t it?” He shrugs nonchalantly, and with a few more steps, turns around to walk towards the doors.

Steve shakes his head, but doesn’t comment back. Instead he lowers their grasping hands and stares at Naruto, waiting for his answer. The young man pauses. Again, this may be a bad idea; to have dinner with a bunch of superheroes. Plus, there’s a possibility of that red-haired woman to join them and make her even more suspicious about him.

But seeing Steve stare at him patiently, but with a hopeful glint in his blue eyes, makes him think _‘Hey, I can make through it.’_

Naruto shrugs. “Sure.” He says, grinning. Steve smiles at him, shy but happy. Naruto feels his heart throbs at the sight, glad to see that he made him smile.

_‘Just act natural, right?’_ Naruto thinks as they both turn and walk towards the exit, their hands still clasping.

* * *

The dinner was going surprisingly well. Even when the red-haired woman came to their table with the archer man a few minutes after they were seated. Turns out their names were Natasha and Clint. 

After the two sat with them and ordered their food, the questions started. At first, they were basic questions like were he lived and if he was enjoying New York. Then, they got specific and started to dig into his past. Naruto knew that this would lead to an interrogation, Natasha and Clint looked like spies, but he was ready. Mostly.

“So Whiskers, what’s with those scars on your face?” Tony asks as he ate his chow mein. This was what felt like the hundredth question they’ve asked him.

“They’re birthmarks.” Naruto explains, trying his best not to grit his teeth at the nickname. He wasn’t the best liar, but he’s surprisingly good if he twists the truth.

“You’re not a mutant, are you?” Clint asks, his hand clutching his cup of hot green tea. He’s leaning back against his seat with a relaxed posture. But, Naruto sees his eyes are still sharp as they stare at him.

Naruto shakes his head. “No.” From what he heard, mutants are genetically differently and have unique powers. Most of his powers aren’t unique to his world; so he’s not a mutant. _‘Technically.’_ His mind adds unhelpfully. He mentally shoves that thought into a corner.

Whatever he did must’ve been good because the sharpness in Clint’s eyes ease a little. The archer takes a sip of his tea. He feels himself still tense, anticipating for more questions based on the stares.

“Now, are you all done grilling him?” Steve says in exasperation. His hand rubs Naruto’s knee in apology. Naruto reaches down and grabs the hand in reassurance.

The entrance door of the restaurant opens. Everyone turns to look at a shy middle-aged man with glasses giving them an embarrassed smile.

“Sorry I was late.” The man says, pressing his glasses up to his nose. “The big guy took me to the Manhattan bridge. I had to take the cab.”

_‘The big guy?’_ Naruto turns his head to Steve in question.

Steve smiles at him. “This is Dr. Bruce Banner.” Steve introduces the man in glasses. “He’s the Hulk.”

_’The Hul?-Woah!’_ He flashes back to the green beast smashing the aliens and landing in front of him. He jerks his head towards Bruce, his eyes wide in shock. _‘He’s that guy?!’_ The other man smiles sheepishly at him.

“It’s nice to officially meet you.” Bruce says, extending his hand. Naruto takes the hand and they shake. “The big guy told me about you.”

Naruto blinks in surprise. Apparently, the others were caught off guard too.

“You can talk to the Hulk?” Tony asks, his face in shock as he stares at his friend.

Bruce shrugs, and turns to look at him. “Kind of. I mostly hear short syllables from him during the transformation.” He turns back his head back to give Naruto a kind smile. “He says that you look like a baby fox.”

And Naruto…doesn’t know what to think about that.

“Uh, thanks?” He says uncertainly. He sees Steve shake his head incredulously.

And that was that. It seems like Bruce, or rather Hulk’s approval, is enough for everyone to stop questioning him. Bruce went to sit down next to Natasha, and ordered his food. Once everyone’s food arrived, there was few talking and mostly eating. Steve was at his second order of food by the time Bruce’s food was served. Naruto blinks; That’s a lot of food. Steve notices his stare and smiles sheepishly.

“Super soldier serum.” Steve states, scoping up rice with his spoon. “It makes my metabolism skyrocket, and have me burning calories like crazy.”

_‘Super soldier serum?’_ Naruto thinks, tilting his head slightly. _‘I guess I should really look up Steve on the internet.’_

“Cool.” The other man simply says, grinning. Because it really is.

Steve grins back at him, the tenseness around his body loosens as he continues eating his food. Naruto turns his head and does the same thing.

* * *

Naruto wakes up to kisses pressing on the side of his neck. He slowly flutters his eyes open as the lips press lower down to his shoulder. He turns around and looks up at Steve above him, smiling.

“Morning.” Steve says softly, his eyes tracing Naruto’s face. His blond hair looks damp and he smells as if just got out of the shower. _‘How long have I been asleep?’_ Naruto thinks dazedly.

“Morn-“ Naruto yawn interrupts his greeting, his eyes instinctively closing. He hears Steve chuckle before he opens his eyes to him leaning down to kiss his lips. Naruto closes his eyes again and kisses back, his lips moving languidly against Steve’s.

He feels Steve’s hands glide down to the sides of his waist and down to the hem of his shirt. Fingers move underneath and rub against his waist and stomach. Naruto reaches up and threads his fingers through the darkened blond hair.

Steve moves one hand up to his chest, and grazes his fingers over one of his nipples. Naruto shivers and moans when the other man starts rubbing it. Steve’s other hand moves down and past the waistband of his pants. His hand rubs against the course pubic hair before grabbing the rising erection. Steve breaks the kiss, and starts a trail of kisses down his neck.

“Mmm.” Naruto groans, moving his neck to one side to give him more access. His hands leave Steve’s hair and move downwards from his chest to his waist. He moves behind and underneath his pants, grasping both ass cheeks tightly just as the older man begins stroking him.

Steve starts speeding up his strokes, rubbing his thumb over the tip of his penis down to his frenulum. The roughness from his finger pads gives just enough friction to feel so good.

“Ah, ah.” Naruto moans, panting from the pleasure.

He lets go of one of the ass cheeks, and moves it around to grab Steve’s hard erection. He hears Steve groan in pleasure, and lets go of the hickey that he was making on his collarbone. Naruto leans upward to catch him in a kiss before stroking him. He moves down to his neck just as Steve extends and exposes it.

They languidly stroke each other’s erections until the pleasure builds up to where Naruto lets go of Steve’s neck, his head clouding and unable to do anything but pant and moan in bliss. Steve lower his head to rest his forehead against the younger man. They pant against each other’s lips as they start speeding up their strokes.

Then, the euphoria reaches its peak. With a moan, Naruto comes into Steve’s hand. Steve follows him a moment later with a grunt and his eyes shut in ecstasy. They slowly let go of each other, and Naruto lifts up his head for a kiss.

They trade kissed for a while before they separate, their bodies still within inches of one another. Finally, Naruto opens his eyes. He looks around the room, and his eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“Uh, where are we?” The room was huge; it could fit his entire apartment. However, the room is very empty. There are no pictures, decoration, or anything that shows that someone lives here. He turns his head to the bed. It was a king size bed with white bed sheets. It reminds Naruto of the hospital beds back in Konoha. He turns his head back to face Steve.

“This is my room.” Steve says smiling sheepishly as he shifts back. Naruto tightens his arm around his waist to prevent him from going too far.

The younger man was still confused. “Steve, I’ve been to your place. It’s not this.” It’s a Brooklyn studio apartment about the same size as Naruto’s.

Steve shakes his head. “No, it’s my room in the Stark’s tower. Tony, uh, gave the team each rooms to live in.” Naruto’s eyebrows shot up. _‘Damn. I guess being a superhero has some perks.’_ He thought wryly.

The older man ducks his head away shyly. “C’mon, let’s go eat. I’m starving.” Naruto lets go of his grip around Steve as the other man moves to stand up. Just as Steve turns to go to the bathroom, Naruto grabs him with his wrist with his clean hand.

“Hey.” Naruto says softly. Steve turns to look back at him. “I don’t care about…all this.” He gestures his other hand, the dirty one, around the room. “This isn’t going to change how I feel about you.”

Then, Naruto grins. “And to be honest, I like your other apartment better.” He does. The apartment is pretty empty too, but it’s has trinkets of memories from Steve’s life during the war. From the box of metals he’s received to the pictures of the Howling Commandos to the papers of partially finished drawings scattered across the surfaces, it feels more like a home than this plain room.

He sees Steve’s shoulder relax and a grateful smile appear on his face. Steve leans down to kiss him, and Naruto tilts his head up to kiss back.

“Thanks.” Steve says against their lips. “But I’m still hungry. Even though you just waved spunk across the room.”

Naruto jerks back, sputtering, and his face bright red. Steve’s body shakes in laughter and his lips form into a large grin. _‘Jerk!’_ Naruto pouts.

After a few seconds, Steve manages to control his laughter and his face settles into a soft smile. “C’mon.” He gently turns his hand from Naruto grip so that he’s grabbing his hand, and pulls him up. Naruto lets himself get pulled out of bed, and gets up on his feet with some stumbling. After another chuckle from Steve, they both walk to the bathroom and enter it.

* * *

After they finished cleaning up, with some distractions, they both leave Steve’s room and enter another room.

Naruto looks around; it looks like a large living room. A large plasma screen television was attached on the wall across from them. A dark brown coffee table was placed in front of the screen with dark red velvet seats surrounding it. To their right, there’s a high table with what looks like the kitchen on the other side. There are three high chairs placed at the table, one of them already occupied by someone.

Natasha crosses her legs as she leans sideways against the table, her body facing them as they enter. One of her elbows is on the counter and her hand holding her cup of coffee. She moves her arm and sips her coffee with one hand, raising an eyebrow playfully.

Naruto feels his face heat up in red, feeling like he’s caught in the act of something bad. In the corner of his eye, he sees Steve ducks his head to hide his own blush.

“Looks like you two had a good morning. Especially Naruto.” She states, her face expressionless but her eyes mischievous.

Naruto feels his blush deepen. He doesn’t know if this playful side of Natasha is better or worse than her yesterday’s scary side. Finally, Steve speaks.

“Nat, any reason why you’re here?” He pauses. “Besides to heckle my Fella?”

Natasha snorts at the comment, amused by Steve’s old slang. “I came here for a reason. This,” She gestures at them with her empty hand. “Was just an added bonus.”

She turns her gaze towards Naruto. The other man suppresses the urge to shiver against the intensity.

“I’m here to get America’s most famous living relic over here.” She says, her voice playful but her eyes are dead serious. “He and I have something to do.”

Oh. Naruto realizes that she means that they have a mission. He shifts his legs awkwardly and turns his gaze at Steve. The other man’s eyebrows furrow and his face looks conflicted. Naruto’s body softens at the sight.

“Don’t worry about it Steve.” Naruto reassures his boyfriend. Steve turns his gaze to him. “I need to go anyways. I’ve got my shift in a couple of hours.”

“Are you sure?” Steve asks, his face now conflicted and concerned

Naruto grins, and bumps his shoulder playfully against his. “Yeah. Go save the world. Or whatever it is what you guys do.”

Steve smiles and his face brightens with eyes shining. He wraps an arm around Naruto’s waist and pull him closer to kiss him on the cheek.

“Thanks.” Steve murmurs against his skin. Naruto feels himself giddy at the affection.

Natasha nods at Naruto in her thanks. “You can take the elevator to go down on the lobby.” She explains. “Ask the front desk and they can call a cab to take you anywhere, free of charge.”

Naruto nods. With one last smile towards Steve, he walks towards the exit and leaves the apartment.

* * *

3 Months later, news reveal that the head of SHIELD was a top Hydra member. Despite the current commander’s intervention, the news still broke out like wildfire and Naruto saw it headlined on every newspaper in New York.

Before that all that, he knew something happened when Steve showed up in his apartment a day before news broke out. He was wearing his Yankees cap, a blue jacket, and was carrying a duffle bag on his shoulder.

He remembered trying to calm his quickening heartbeat from seeing that image, and let him into his apartment.

Steve told him that something happened. He found Bucky. He found his best friend that he thought was dead seventy years ago. He said that he had to lie low for a while, get out of the city, and find him.

Naruto flashed back to Sasuke.

The intense and all-consuming drive to find the friend that he called brother. Suddenly, as he stared at the man he cared about in front of him, he knew what Sakura felt when she saw him grabbed whatever bits of trail that led him to Sasuke. And, to be honest, it’s a shitty feeling. But he’s learned from his mistakes, and he knew there was no way that he was going to stop him. Or if he could. Deep down inside, he wanted to curse in frustration at this situation. But, he understood this feeling so well that it hurt. And he knew that he had to let him go.

“So what do we do now?” Naruto crossed his arms to prevent him from seeing his clenched fists. He stared at him, waiting.

He’s been through countless battles and the Fourth Shinobi war, but losing Steve was one of the most terrifying things he’s faced.

The man stared at him for a moment before grabbing something from his pocket. It’s a plain black cellphone with Stark Industries logo on it; it’s similar to the one that Steve has.

“This is a burner phone that Tony got for me.” Steve began. “He said “It took you seventy years to finally get it, you might as well keep it.”” Naruto snorted at the quote. From his interactions from Stark, he could definitely see the eccentric man saying that.

He’s eccentric but good hearted.

Steve extended the phone towards him. “And in one of these few times, he’s right.” The man gave him a half smile. “I know it’s selfish, asking you to wait for me, but I still want this. To keep what we have.”

Looking back at it now, he knew that it was the perfect set up to break this whole thing off. To separate ties from this world. So that, when the last portal was destroyed, he could leave without strings attached.

But he also knows he was never good at using his brain; his heart always took control. And, during that moment, it didn’t even cross his mind as he reached out and grasped the cellphone.

Using the connection, he pulled the other man towards him for an almost bruising kiss.

“I believe you.” He said once their lips moved away. “You’ll come back. You’ll come back with Bucky, and I’ll fucking finally get to pay for that date.”

“Language.” Steve admonished. But, it doesn’t hide the smirk on his face.

Naruto gave a cocky smirk back, before placing his hand on Steve’s chest and pushing him back a little. “Go.”

Steve allowed him to be pushed back, and the smirk on his face softened. It looked like a look of adoration. For a moment, Naruto’s breath was stolen. “I’ll come back.” Steve promised, his eyes staring intensely at him, as if asking for his trust. The other man nodded, not knowing how else to respond.

The front door was open, and then he was gone.

So that’s where he’s now; 2 weeks post SHIELD-slash-Hydra reveal, walking on the sidewalks in the morning after finishing a shift. Back alone in New York, but not at the same time.

He’s not worried about Steve; he’s seen him fight. He knows those muscles aren’t for show. What he’s worried about is his mission. It’s been almost half a year since he’s been in this world, and there’s still no signs of a portal appearing. The organization is usually accurate when it comes to knowing when the portals are here, so this is unusual. Naruto almost wants to say that they made a mistake.

But, now there’s a feeling across his skin that he can’t shake; the feeling that portals or something relating to them, may be happening soon.

The shuffling of feet behind him almost makes him pause. There’s someone following him. He continues walking, but focuses, sensing for their chakra. He finds it, blue swirls surround the men walking behind him.

He hears more footsteps walking behind him, and multiple chakras following. They’re good, but they can’t hide their chakra so it’s easy to tell where they were. Naruto shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans, twirling the metallic spheres hidden inside.

He bites his lips; he needs to make a decision. Either fight them, or continue acting like a bystander and try to escape. He furrows his eyebrows, and adjusts his chakra to sharpen his hearing. There’s a faint cocking of a gun and the clinking of glass being inserted.

They’re not here to kill him; they’re here to kidnap him.

Either they know who he really is, or it’s something else. Regardless, he’s made his choice. But, he can’t use his clones or chakra; it’ll bring too much attention. So, taijutsu it is. Naruto quickly turns into the corner where he knows is an alleyway, and merges into the shadows. He crouches and touches the ground briefly with his bandaged hand and senses.

While he was in the organization, they taught him about the elements. How each member were able to control and manipulate two elements with tremendous power. With him, his elements were wind and fire. And it turns out his prosthetic arm, made by the cells of a ninja with an earth affinity, gave him some control of earth elements. Two months into the organization, Naruto figured out that, when his right arm touches earth material and concrete, he could scan for people within a distance through vibrations of their movements. Its saved him more times than he could count.

Like now. Naruto briefly closes his eyes and concentrates. Four guys running towards him on the ground, and two up in the roof.

The footsteps are now running towards him. He stands up to a crouch, and activates his kunai. He first sees one of the men on the roof in front of him and quickly throws his kunai. It directly impales the side of his neck, and the man falls down. Naruto quickly activates another kunai from his pocket. 

Just as someone turns the corner, Naruto uses the handle end of the kunai and hits him in the throat. The man instantly goes down. Another man besides him holds out a knife and lunges at him. He easily dodges the knife, and elbows the man in the face.

He ducks just in time for a bat to swing across from where his head was. He puts his hands on the grounds and lifts up a leg to give a backwards kick to the man’s chin behind him. The man staggers. Naruto quickly lowers his legs, and gets up to slice his kunai across his neck. The man drops to the ground.

To his left, the man with a knife lunges at him again. Naruto dodges, but hisses when it cuts through his t-shirt and slices his waist. He uses his empty hand to punch the man in the face. As the man staggers back, Naruto moves forward and stabs him in the abdomen. The man makes a choking sound. Naruto removes his kunai and the man falls to the ground, unmoving.

There’s a pause of silence. _‘Where’s the fourth one?’_ Naruto thought.

He hears the click of a gun. Naruto stiffens, and slowly turns around to see the man pointing a handgun at him.

“Come with us.” The man said. “And no one gets hurt.”

Naruto stares at the barrel of the gun, trying to find a way out of this. As he remembers the concrete beneath his feet, he figures it out. While maintain eye contact on the gun, he concentrates. He searches for earth in the concrete stones. It’s better using his right arm to do this, but he’s able to move his chakra from his arm to his leg. Quickly finds it; there’s only bits and pieces of earth material, but it’ll work.

Naruto slightly shifts the heel of his shoe, and the concrete moves slightly underneath one of the man’s foot. But it’s enough for the man to falter and release his grip on the trigger. He finds his opening. He darts towards the man and, with a quick swipe, slices the man across the neck. The gun clatters on the ground at the same time as the man’s body thumps onto the ground.

_‘One more.’_ Naruto thought. He hears the click of a trigger being pulled above and behind him.

He dodges to the side as a something shoots towards him. The person misses him, and the dart embeds itself into the brick wall. With a quick reflex, he throws his kunai at the sniper on the fire escape above him. It hits directly into the eye that isn’t looking into the scope, and he falls onto the ground.

Everything is silent; all the enemies are dealt with. For a second, he feels triumphant.

The dart makes a hissing sound as if it’s decompressing air. He turns at the sound, and sees green gas starting to pour out of the dart.

_‘Shit.’_ Naruto turns to the alley exit, and sees people blocking his way. They’re wearing gas masks. He turns the other way, and it’s also blocked with masked people. It’s too late for him to jump up to the walls and to the roof; the gas had already entered his body. They slowly walk towards him as the gas starts to cloud his vision.

Naruto feels his eye twitch as the gas invades his system. He tries to move, but falls down to one knee. He continues struggling against the gas, but ultimately loses conscious; his last sight being of masked people gazing down at him.

* * *

He hears something before he opens his eyes; the sharp clanging of a metallic door slamming close. Naruto winces with his closed eyes. Damn, his head hurts. _‘Fucking knock out gas.’_ He curses. But honestly, he’s more embarrassed that he got knocked out so easily. Savior of the Ninja world and it’s nations, and he gets knocked out and kidnapped by gas. He can see Sasuke laughing at him with his asshole smirk.

The blond slowly opens his eyes and wiggles. He’s in a wooden chair tied up by chains wrapped around his middle, and his wrists handcuffed behind the chair. He hears footsteps walking closer until a pair of black shoes appear in front of him. He slowly moves his head up, and winces at the bright white light shining right above a male figure, shadowing his face.

“Good, you are awake.” The man says with an foreign accent. “Now, let’s start: Where is Captain America?”

There was a moment of disbelief. Then, Naruto could feel his shoulders relax; he was captured because they want Steve. His cover isn’t blown, and the organization’s identity is still unknown. _‘Whew.’_ Naruto thinks in relief.

Suddenly, he feels a slice on his cheek. He immediately turns his head and winces again, feeling the trickle of blood running down his cheek.

The man kneels down to look at him face to face. “Since you already have scars on your face, I do not feel bad about making more.” Naruto sees his face more clearly now, bulging black eyes with a long face, grinning sadistically at him. He’s wearing a green hat with the symbol of a skull with six arms.

He knows that symbol, it’s been plastered all over the newspapers in New York. Hydra.

“I will ask again: Where is Captain America?”

Now there’s another issue; they want Steve. Good thing that it’s an easy solution.

“Why the fuck would I tell you?” Naruto says, glaring at the man.

Immediately there’s another slice, but it’s on the top of his right shoulder. Naruto suppresses a wince. Damn, these knife wounds are going to be a bitch to heal.

“We’re just getting started.” The man says, grinning down at him. “It’ll hurt a lot less if you tell us what you know.” Naruto stays silent, glaring up at him. The man sighs as if he’s disappointed, but is still grinning.

For the next hour, the interrogations continue the same way. The man asks a question, usually about Captain America, and Naruto says some form of “No”. It ends up with him getting slashed somewhere on his body.

And, fuck, it hurts. But, he rather goes through this than have them get their hands on Steve.

After the hour, Naruto feels like a bleeding mess. Slashes cross all over his upper body and thighs, blood seeping into his clothes. He curses in his head. _‘I liked these clothes.’_ He thinks exasperatedly. 

The man looks visibly frustrated now. His face is scowling at the lack of response and pain that the blond in showing. The Hydra commander raises his hand again to make another slice. There’s a knock on the door, and the man pauses with his knife midair.

“Come in.” He says, his face changing back into a calm image.

A man enters the room, also wearing a Hydra uniform, but without the hat. He’s holding something, but it’s hidden in his hand. The man turns his head and his body lights up at the sight. He lowers his knife and grabs the item with his empty hand. With a wave of the knife, the other man quickly leaves the room.

He turns back to Naruto. “We found this in your apartment.” The man says, his voice and eyes expressing smug triumph.

He opens his hand and reveals a phone. Naruto clenches his hands into fists. It’s the burner phone that Steve gave him before he left New York. The blond mentally curses himself for not hiding it.

“Now, let us see who answers?” The man continues to sound smug as he speed dials the only number in the phone. Naruto tenses. _‘Come on, Steve. Don’t answer it!’_ He mentally pleads.

After two rings, the call picks up.

“Hey Baby.” Steve’s voice rings throughout the room. Naruto wants to scream in frustration for his bad luck. “We just talked yesterday, is everything alright?”

The man’s smile widens as he moves the phone speaker closer to his mouth, but waits. There was silence between all of them.

“…Naruto?” Steve asks, concern in his voice. Finally, the man speaks.

“You’re boyfriend is a quite preoccupied, Captain.” The man says almost gleefully, smiling maliciously at the blond in front of him. There’s a pause, as if Steve is in shock, before he replies.

“What have you done with him?” Steve demands, his voice hard and angry.

“I assures you, Captain, that he is still alive. For now.” The man says. Naruto glares up at him angrily. “And he will stay alive, if you agree to our demands.”

There was another pause of silence from the phone. Steve slowly and steadily asks, “What do you want?”

The man’s face forms into a grin, obviously pleased with what’s happening. “I want you and the Winter Soldier to come to our post; without your weapons and only you two.” He pauses. “I assume you are already tracking us down as we are talking.”

“Before I agree to this, I want to talk to him first.” Steve demands, his voice slowly bleeding through concern. Wordlessly, the man lowers the phone towards Naruto. Immediately, he shouts at Steve.

“Steve, don’t come find me! I’ll-“ Urgh! His voice gets cut off by a punch in the stomach. He briefly hears Steve calling out his name, and the Hydra commander growling in anger. Naruto grits his teeth together, he can’t wait to kick this guy’s ass.

The man puts the phone back closer to his mouth. “You have twenty-four hours, Captain.” He says. “Or else, I will not be certain of his survival.” He hangs up the phone before the other can reply.

Naruto stares at the man as he pockets the phone into his pants. “Now, we wait.” The man says. “You had better hope that he comes.” The man turns and leaves the room.

As he leaves the room, Naruto purses his lips. Steve is definitely going to come after him now, and he’s probably getting help from Stark in tracking him down. But, Steve or not, he needs to get out of here. He doesn’t know how much time as passed, but his feelings are growing stronger on that portals may be opening soon. And they need to be destroyed before fiends enter this world.

Great, now he has to escape before Steve gets here, and find the portal that’s probably going to pop-up soon. And find an excuse on how he escaped while trying to search for portals. _‘I’m feeling too old for this shit.’_ Naruto complains in his head.

**_‘You’re also too damn powerful for this, Brat.’_ **

Naruto startles himself out of his thoughts from the voice. _‘Kurama?’_ Naruto replies back mentally. It’s uncommon for the nine-tailed fox to talk to him, he’s still regaining his powers and he usually doesn’t care much about what’s happening in the human world.

**_‘I take a few years to recover from the Fourth Shinobi War, and I wake up to you getting captured? Without using your chakra?_** Naruto could hear Kurama snort. **_‘This is fucking pathetic, Brat.’_**

_‘Hey, shut it Furball.’_ Naruto bites back. _‘I’m on an undercover mission and in a different world. I couldn’t use my chakra to fight these guys without exposing myself.’_ Kurama doesn’t reply back, but the blond could still feel the judgment from the demon. Naruto scowls, but turns his attention to look around the area.

The only source of light is the lightbulb swinging from the ceiling. The room is dark and entirely made of concrete. He squints around the upper corners of the room. There’s no cameras in the room. Naruto snorts. _‘Well that’s a dumb move.’_ Naruto grasps the side of the wooden chair with right hand, closes his eyes, and concentrates.

It’s more difficult to scan the area with concrete compared to wood, but he doesn’t need a complete scan. Footsteps hit the concrete floors, making vibrations against it. There looks like about fifty people in the base on the same floor as him and below him.

It also looks like they took his weapons. He finds them a few doors down to his right; a pulsating red light surrounds the metallic spheres. As he continues scanning the area, his neck pulses; it’s his ribbon.

He stiffens. _‘Shit.’_ That could mean one thing. Naruto concentrates harder and increases his scanning area. And he finds it. Strong and loud vibrations around an oval shape about twenty feet tall. A portal was opening on the floor below him, and in a room that seems to be the size of a cargo bay.

Fuck, this changes everything.

Naruto uncurls his right hand and slowly opens his eyes. _‘I need to close that portal. Now.’_ He shifts. _‘But, first I need to get out this.’_

**_‘Idiot, why haven’t you done that already?’_** Kurama speaks again, annoyance in his voice. **_‘This restraint is academy level; you should have left the room by now.’_**

_‘Alright, alright!’_ Naruto replies back. “Sheesh, I was just thinking out loud.” He mumbles as he shuffles his feet. Good, he feels the indents of the sharp file he placed in his right foot sole.

With a quick twist, he dislocates his right thumb. He pulls his right hand out of the handcuffs, and pops his thumb back. He spreads his legs and lifts his right foot towards his hand, his back arching forward against the chains. The tips of his fingers feels around the bottom of his shoe and slides the file out. He immediately puts it against the chains and files it. It’s take a while, but this never fails him.

It takes five minutes of furious filing before the chain creaks, and breaks. Naruto pauses, listening for footsteps. He hears nothing. He gently shakes the chains onto his lap, and quietly places them onto the chair as he stands up. After a few seconds of hearing nothing again, he quickly walks to the door.

**_‘Hmph, about time.’_** Kurama says. **_‘I am sure you will not need me for this. I will return to my rest.’_**

_‘I’ll be fine, Kurama. Go back to your old man nap.’_ Naruto thinks playfully.

He hears Kurama scoff. **_’These worlds you enter make my healing much slower, Brat.’_**

It’s true. Whenever he enters a world not from his own, he notices that his charka is weaker and that he doesn’t make as much clones as he usually does. According to Alexandra, it’s a normal thing. Something about each world having different chemicals in the atmosphere that their body isn’t used to. Fortunately, his fighting skills don’t change.

Naruto feels Kurama’s presence dim as the demon resumes his rest. He reaches and turns the door knob. It’s unlocked. Slowly, he opens the door and peeks out. There’s no guards. He exits the room and quietly shuts the door. He quickly turns to the right and moves to down the hallway. He stops in front of the door where he saw where his weapons are at. He reaches a hand down to the doorknob and jerks back.

He quickly flattens himself next to the door before it opens. A guard comes out of the door, scratching an itch on his face. Automatically, Naruto grabs him and drags him back into the room, his hand covering the surprised yelp from the guard. The blond pushes him onto the ground with his knee pressing against the guards trachea and his arms restraining his wrists. The guard flails for almost a minute, with choking cries and his legs kicking against the concrete, before he goes limp and loses his conscious.

Naruto lifts up his knee and stands up. After a couple seconds of scanning, he finds them. He grabs all of his weapons, and shoves them into his pocket for except one. He activates the sphere. and it forms into his kunai. He grins.

_‘Now we’re back in business.’_

With a jerk of his wrist, Naruto uses his kunai to unlock the handcuff on his left hand and lets it drop onto the floor with a clack. He crouches down, places the fingertips of his right hand against the floor. He closes his eyes and concentrates. He sees the outline of the portal again, at the floor below and in a room a few feet north of him. He releases the connection and walks out of the room, gently closing the door behind him.

He looks around and spots the door to the stairs. Quickly, he rushes towards it and goes down one floor below him; fortunately not encountering any soldiers.

Just as he touches the door, there’s an explosion above him. He staggers at the impact, gripping the door handle. _‘What the hell?’_ He hears shouting above him and guns firing. The building’s alarm blares and red lights flashing in the staircase. _‘Who’s-‘_ Naruto gives a sharp intake of breath and his eyes widen in realization.

Shit. It’s Steve and his team.

He wasn’t expecting them to come and save him so quickly. He needs to move fast before they realize something. With no time to spare, Naruto pushes the door open and runs. He darts into a corner just as he hears guards behind him run towards the staircases where he was just at. _‘Okay. Now where-’_

A loud roar snaps him out of his thoughts. The roar is coming down the hallway that he hid in, its sound slightly mute from the alarms, but rings clearly in his ears. He runs towards the sound, and stops at a pair of large metal doors. He grasps both of the door knobs and takes a deep breath. _‘Okay. Let’s do this!’_ He think firmly.

He twists the door knobs, opens the doors, and enters into chaos. Some of the fiends had already entered the world. He sees the portal on the other side of the large room with a metal frame surrounding it. It’s fully activated; the interior swirling like a kaleidoscope.

He sees soldiers firing at the monsters attacking them, but most of them fail; their bodies impaled or bitten. Some people are shouting in a foreign language at the people at the side of the portal, who are frantically typing into a control panel. But it’s no use; once a portal opens, it stays open.

Unless someone from the organization, his organization, destroys it.

Naruto quickly dives behind a cargo just as a blast of ice aims towards him. Readjusting the grip on his kunai, he gets ready to leap up and attack. However, shots firing above and behind him stop him. They were aiming at the monsters. He turns his head and looks back.

Up on the balcony, he sees Clint in his purple uniform and firing arrows at the men. There’s another man next to him that he doesn’t recognize. He has brown hair, blue eyes, and is firing at the enemies with a sniper rifle. His entire right arm is metal, shining against the cargo bay lights.

“Naruto?!” The man turns towards the sound. A few feet away from him, he sees Steve running in his uniform minus his helmet, his shield wielding in front of him.

“Steve!” He barely manages to shout out before leaping away from the snake lunging at him over the cargo. He was just about to attack it, before something flies over and knocks its head onto the ground. Naruto watches as the shield bounces from the impact and sails back to Steve, like a boomerang. _‘Nice!’_ He thinks, watching as the other man clicks the shield back onto his arm. Naruto opens his mouth to say something, but loud rumbling interrupts him. He jerks his head to look at the portal.

The portal is starting to shift more rapidly now, it’s colors swirling rapidly. Naruto tightens his grip on his kunai at the sight. _‘Shit.’_ That could only mean one thing; something powerful is coming out of it. And the portal was still blocked by rows of monsters. He needs to do something and fast. A moment of realization and he feels a sense of dread go through him.

Damnit! It wasn’t supposed to be like this. He was hoping that, when he was ready, that he could explain everything to Steve. To sit down and tell him everything about. About who he really is and why he was here. But he should’ve know that was too good to be true. His life in Konoha was like this, and this world is no different. And now, he’s got no choice. He can only hope that Steve forgives him. Eventually.

Naruto turns to Steve. “Steve.” The man, now in front of him, turns to look at him. “I need to tell you something: I haven’t told you everything about me.” He bites his lips in guilt as Steve’s face morphs into confusion. “I didn’t want this to happen. And for you to know about this way. I’m sorry.”

Naruto reaches up his hands and forms the clone seal.

“Naruto, wha-“ Steve starts but cuts himself off, his eyes widening at the sight.

Dozens of copies of Naruto fizzle into existence. In each world, they appear differently. In some worlds, they pop out of smoke. In others, like this one, they buzz in as if they’re static. They fizzle throughout the ground floor, and up at the balcony. He hears surprise shouts around the area. He separates his hands and readjusts the position of his kunai in his hand.

He looks up to see Steve takes a step backwards in shock before he turns away from the sight, and thrusts himself into the field of monsters. His clones immediately following behind him.

The monsters turns their heads and see the clones. They roar and charge at them, as if they sense what he was trying to do.

Despite their efforts, they don’t go near him.

The clones make sure that they don’t even touch him as he sprints to the portal. For every monster that attacks him, a clone is in front of him to block or take the blow. Naruto hears gunshots and fighting behind him. He hopes that it’s Steve and his team helping out.

Suddenly, there’s a large brown salamander in front of him. Quickly, he jumps above its head just as it lunges at him, twists his body midair, and lands on top of its head with his body angle towards its face. With a swipe, he slashes it across the eyes. He turns his body around, and jumps off just as it screams in pain. He lands back onto the ground into a crouch, and continues sprinting towards his goal.

He manages to arrive at the steps before the portal before a dark claw shoots out of the portal. Naruto jerks to a halt. The claw curls and moves to one side of the portal. Another claw comes out and does the same thing on the other side. Together, they grab the frames, and pushes against it. A head and chest comes out of the portal. Then, the entire thing exits out of the portal.

It’s a tall, twice of Naruto’s height, and skinny fiend covered in black scales. The face is helmet like, and has wings that look sharp around the edges, but leathery like a dragon. Its two feet are also clawed, they clack against the concrete as they walk towards him.

Naruto goes into a crouch and raises his kunai in front of him. All the shadow clones he made are fighting other monsters; he’s going to have to do this one-on-one. The fiend takes one more step before it jumps and charges at him.

Naruto quickly dodges sideways from the clawed swipe towards his face. He takes lands on one foot and pushes forward to jump at the fiend. He slices the monster’s collarbone before the monster swipes at him again. Immediately, he crosses his arms to cover his front and he is pushed backwards from the hit, the claw marks slicing his forearms.

He grits at the pain and lands back with both of his feet on the ground. He uncrosses his arms, bends his knees, and jumps towards back to the monster. The fiend reaches up a clawed hand to block his kunai. His kunai hits the claw with a clang, and the claw grabs it. Instinctively, Naruto twists his hips and kicks its face. It turns his head at the impact, loosens its grip, and Naruto pushes himself back away from it.

The fiend keeps his head turned for a second, and slowly turns it back. Its yellow eyes glowing almost angrily at him, and his claws curling. Under adrenaline and the thrill of the fight, Naruto grins.

It hunches over with its arms in front of him as if ready for an attack. A claw curls out in front of him and blue fire bursts out of its palm. Naruto startles at the sight, and the field throws the fireball at him. He quickly dodges to the side. _‘Okay.’_ Naruto thinks, lifting up his kunai. _‘Let’s end this now!_ ’

He charges from the ground to the fiend. The field generates other blue fireball and throws it at him. He slides to the side to dodge it, and continues running towards the fiend. Just as he is in arm’s length of it, the fiend brings this other claw down to swipe at him. Naruto ducts underneath the swipe, and rises up in front of the fiend with his kunai ready to strike.

Then, something stops him.

He feels something stab into his chest. He stiffens, he faintly hears someone scream his name. He looks down. There’s a hand puncturing his chest with all of its claws imbedding to his skin. Inside the palm there’s a red gem.

He hears the cracking of glass before fire shoots out of the gem and covers him.

The flames go around and move along his body, as if he was their source.

But it doesn’t hurt or burn him. In fact, it’s healing him.

Quickly, he reaches up and stabs the fiend at the soft area underneath its chin. The kunai slides into the fiend easily, and the tip of it exits out of its eye. The field stumbles back and releases its grip on him. The fire from the gem is still surrounding his body but it’s now healing the puncture wound on his chest. Just as the last lick of the fire ends and leaves his body, the monster falls to the ground dead.

Naruto walks towards the dead fiend and reaches down to pull out his kunai from it. He stand straight up and stares at the portal. It’s swirling even faster now; something even stronger than that fiend is going to come out soon.

Naruto clenches his jaws, he needs to act now. He sprints towards the portal, and raises his right arm. The edge of a snout is appearing out of the center of the portal. With a yell, he thrusts his arm into the portal.

The snout pulls back. The portal shakes, and the kaleidoscopic colors bursts in front of him. A sudden force pulls his arm into the portal as the portal shakes more fiercely.

Naruto squints his eyes and keeps his arm inside the portal, but pulls back enough to prevent it from sucking himself in. He feels the bandages on his arm burn away from the force coming out of the portal. With a yell, he pulls his arm further back and the portal looks as if some of it was attaching itself onto him. Another forceful yank, and the portal breaks its connection. Naruto staggers back, his knee hitting the ground to break his complete fall.

The kaleidoscopic colors vanishes, and the portal disintegrates. The metal frames around it cracks and breaks, pieces of it falling down onto the ground. Dust and debris blanket the area as the impact of metal hits the ground. Naruto jumps back in attempt to avoid the falling pieces.

As the last pieces fall, the area echoes in its deafening silence. Naruto slowly rises to his feet and stares at the remains of the portal. _‘One down.’_ He thinks. _‘Nineteen more to go.’_ With a deep exhale, he turns around.

Multiple soldiers are aiming their guns at him. They are in full armors gear and wearing SHIELD’s symbol on their right arm. In the center, a female slowly walks forward.

“Drop your weapon, and put your hands in the air!” She demands, her gun aiming right at his head.

Naruto scans around the room. Piles of Hydra soldiers lay dead on the ground. He sees a familiar long face and green hat along with the dead, but doesn’t feel any glee from it. Any fiends that are dead or alive are disintegrating into thin air; to leave without any trace.

Looking up, Clint and the mysterious guy are on the balcony, staring at him. Back on the ground, Natasha is with the soldiers, standing to the side and still in a firing stance.

And Steve. He’s in the middle back, standing behind the shoulders. His eyes are staring at him in shock and disbelief.

Naruto quickly darts his eyes to the ground, his heart clenching at the sight. Slowly, he raises his arms up and drops his kunai. He keeps staring at the ground as he hears people walk up to him and grab his arms.

Fuck.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a kudo/comment if like!


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